Process for the extraction of platinum and like metals of the platinum group from sands and ores.



Sends and Ores,

. place in e resort u "unwise :eussuLL time";

s-Iee No Brewing.

To all 207mm it may conoem:

Be it known shat l, Res-semi T Philadelphia, in the county M hiladelphie and State of l ennsyl'mnia, have in ented elain new and useful lznpi'ova ants Frocesses for the Extraction. of Bletinum and like Metals of the Plei-inum Group from whereoithe Io! ten, or

lowing is e spa llCfihlOllu My invention the reeovery o).

a state of is particularly addressed plzibinumivhich oe nus ezieeec; fl y' fine eomininetion sends and ores, but includes dlf'iillffi Oil] metals of the plaiinum such iridium and osmium, which are frequent found in assoc therewith, in simile comminnted i:

l he e if end possibl the melels referred to fol in sends and certain similar is highly susceptible to the d elilorin, forming a compound which can oe largely vole zilized, and thin; e r from the mass by a proper eurre'ne 13o suita e collecting reeep' ecle. .ls 'lJlllS (3on1- pouncl is soluble in residual con:- pound which may remain in Llie mass can be leached out, and entire irenioved compound can he subsequently treated for preeipitzg tion, of the nieiel,

in many instances sen finely divided plesiniun eee WillllGLli} further grinding, hut in V as, "for instance, wliei e the ore s of rook-like oheiecceix i131 should be fine-i round to 1'elee'se"or expose for possible no metal minute nos of eh,

In carrying one the L the retort pipe leading from a sup M 4 (lllOll'fl under pressure. enlorin is upward through the ehz re'e with a pressure sufiieient ibo' cause s definite continuous current, ialiel;

lug difi'used throif steadily out from tort, whence is containing Water. will be found. that e not only taken up h 1nd eonibm the chlorin to a very zerge degree, but ihei she result-mi product-is voletilized and carried off in the form of minute solid periieles. My belief is FEDEX p Specification of Letters lee-Jeni;

iipplicetiozz. iileii Septemixer 1., 1312 $5e1'ial The 189.257

IDS AND GEES; l

chemical, reformation of an" actual comolllO of a combination of the "he czlilerin, the minute metallic parl'ic-les one to some extent carried over as such. Umler t "e conditions, however, the metallic particles \vil elm while the :1 ei ion iii-1gb suiting i n the pound 1n the n metal will Llle detained in the water. and can reodil'v be recovered therein by known process solved compound.

l' p1ef; r to subject the ore to the aei-ion of ihe ehlorin at e temperetureof eboutSOO degrees l, I have found that this tends to facilitate the action oi? the gas current.

I do not, however, limit my claims to the employment of the partiei' ar temperature together with the nentloned, since I believe t. rat the gas eurienl; connnences to at a. much lower temperature, in lily as low as 212 degrees Fahrenheit. le eommereiel p111 poses the use of e temperature nearly epproeeliing 900 degrees Fahrenheit, is recommended'upon the p onnds of economyand eliieiency, I find impossible to define wi th emotness the theoretical range of temperw tunes, within which she characteristic mode of operalion may be attained, and can only st" that its upper limi is subsben-zielly leelow the melting point of the metal, and its lower limitnola substantiollyvhelow 212 de grees l ehrenheit.

instead of using es zrom a sepaiaie producer as ubo' e described, I eon semplaie mixing with the charge of sands or gromid ore Pony lie-"nu eoinhinetion capilble of GVUlVJ ehloi'in under the influence of heal. no than the can be generated in above stated, the invention is not reuol'ed to platinum alone, but applies to such metals iridium and osmium, commonly essoeiaied therewith, and which may he classified as the exceedingly refractory end heavy meezgls of the platinum group.

Having described invention, I claim:

1, The her-einhefore described processilfor the exti'eei ion of finely comminuted platinum and similar metals from their sends or ores, which. consists in diffusing a currentoflieeied chlorin gas through an inclosed charge of suc f sand or ore; conducting the gas currentefcer passage through the charge to a receptacle containing a solvent of the compound formed; collecting the dissolved to it receptafiefi conteining a solvent of t e compound fQlf med eolleoting the dissolved and detained metahin the solvent; leaching the residuum of the charge to remove any remainder-0f the eompoundiormed; and finally recovering the meteL In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this thirtieth day of August 1917 I RUSSELL THAY R. Witnesses:

JAMES H. BELL,' E. L. FULLERTON. 

